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Within the mid 1800s, an english family rock band toured the U.S., sort of an earlier version with the Partridge Family. Nevertheless they weren't the only real rock-band because century; indeed, rock bands are even much older than that.

Ringing Rocks Park in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, contains a field of boulders that make a metallic ringing sound when struck, as though these folks were hollow. The boulders consist of a volcanic basalt called diabase, and thus have a superior content of iron and aluminum. In 1890, Dr. J. J. Ott collected several of these rocks with different pitches and performed with a brass band. He was not the initial person to give this kind of performance.

Within the English Lake District, a couple of ringing rocks from your mountain Skiddaw was collected in 1785 by Peter Crosthwaite, an area map publisher. He constructed a guitar composed of 16 stones that developed a diatonic scale spanning two octaves plus one note. The instrument is on exhibit within the region's Keswick Museum, along with other "rock harmonicas." One of the most remarkable rock harmonica is 12 feet in total, comprising five chromatic octaves of rock slabs. Being a xylophone, the slabs lie on the sound box on ropes of straw. A handbill advertising a public performance from your mid 1800s reads:

Richardsons'

Original Monstre

Rock Band

Invented and manufactured by

Messrs Richardson and Sons

after 13 years' incessant labour and application

from rocks dug out of the mighty Skiddaw in Cumberland (1827-1840)

Around this same time, the Till Family Rockband (yes, that was their actual name) brought a similar instrument of Skiddaw stone towards the U.S. and toured successfully. A part of their instrument is displayed in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The Till and Richardson families were literally the initial touring rock bands.

Ringing rocks have been found in cultures worldwide. Types of suspended stone chime bars made of marble or jade, some dating back to 1000's of years, are located in China. But evidence for ancient musical uses of ringing rocks comes from Neolithic sites for example Birnin Kudu in Nigeria, where "rock gongs" put together in 1955. The rocks cluster inside a hundred feet of cave paintings and appear to indicate that they are used as part of an ensemble. Although difficult to date with any certainty, the world's first rock band might be 4,000 years of age or even more.